Adoption of Free Speech and Expression Regulations; Disciplinary Sanctions for Interfering With Rights

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Education
  4. Postsecondary Education
  5. Board of Regents and University System
  6. Free Speech and Expression at State Institutions of Higher Education
  7. Adoption of Free Speech and Expression Regulations; Disciplinary Sanctions for Interfering With Rights

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  1. The board of regents shall adopt regulations and policies relevant to free speech and expression on the campuses of state institutions of higher education that address the following:
    1. To assure that freedom of speech or of the press is protected for all persons;
    2. To foster the discovery, improvement, transmission, and dissemination of knowledge by means of research, teaching, discussion, and debate of different ideological positions;
    3. Each such institution shall maintain and publish policies addressing content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions on expressive activities with the least restrictive means, in accordance with relevant First Amendment jurisprudence, necessary for providing use of facilities and resources under the control of the institution to all student groups and invited speakers, including security and rental fees for such use, to foster the discovery, improvement, transmission, and dissemination of knowledge by means of research, teaching, discussion, and debate of different ideological positions;
    4. To assure that each such institution does not shield students, staff, or individuals on campus from speech protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, including ideas and opinions which such students, staff, or individuals on campus find unwelcoming, disagreeable, or even offensive;
    5. To assure students and faculty are permitted to assemble and engage in spontaneous expressive activity, as long as such activity is not unlawful and does not disrupt or interfere with the functioning of the institution or classroom instruction, and complies with the applicable institution's content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions;
    6. To assure that each such institution is open to any invited speaker whom a student group or members of the faculty have invited, provided any such speaker complies with the applicable institution's content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions; and
    7. To assure that any student or his or her invitee lawfully present on campus of these institutions may peacefully protest or demonstrate, provided any such students or invitees comply with the applicable institution's content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions and:
      1. Do not interfere with other previously scheduled events or activities on campus occurring at the same time; and
      2. Do not prevent professors or other instructors from maintaining order in the classroom.
  2. Subject to notice, hearing, and due process requirements, the board of regents shall establish a range of disciplinary sanctions for anyone under the jurisdiction of the state institution of higher learning who is found by his or her conduct to have interfered with the board of regents' regulations and policies relevant to free speech and expression on the campus of each such institution.

(Code 1981, §20-3-48, enacted by Ga. L. 2018, p. 1086, § 1/SB 339.)


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